Paul McCartney has sued Sony’s music publishing company seeking the rights to the catalog of songs he created with John Lennon as a member of The Beatles.

The copyrights listed were famously bought by Michael Jackson in1985 and then sold to Sony/ATV Music Publishing.

The disputed songs include “Love Me Do,” “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” “All You Need Is Love,” “All Together Now” and “The Ballad of John and Yoko.”

McCartney said the Copyright Act in place when he created the music granted songwriters like himself the right to transfer their ownership and “the non-waivable right to terminate those transfers and reclaim their copyright interests.”

As a result, McCartney has been sending Sony/ATV a series of “termination notices,” starting in Oct. 2008 with “Love Me Do.”

Sony/ATV “gave no indication … that they contested the efficacy of Paul McCartney’s termination notices,” for years after they were sent, the lawsuit said.

McCartney asked the court to rule that “his exercise of his termination rights” will not represent a breach of contract with the publisher.

He also asked for the court to enforce his rights to the songs because of the termination notices.

“This action involves ownership interests in the copyrights for certain musical works that Plaintiff Sir James Paul McCartney (known professionally as Paul McCartney) authored or co-authored with other former members of the world-famous musical group The Beatles,” said the lawsuit filed in Manhattan federal court.